Mobile Suit Gundam

This highly original and innovating anime offers so much in terms of being the original “realistic mech anime series.” It talks about the potential realities of war on both a battlefront and political scale. It’s a wonderful coming of age story for many of the characters that each develops for not only the good guys, but the bad guys as well. I’m not sure if relate to them is a right word, but you can sure bet sympathize and understand them is something you can certainly do. And it’s a story of trust and betrayal on both fronts as well. All I can say is, it’s the perfect story about everything you can possibly get on human nature in an anime. I feel that even if mankind can advance this far, sadly, there can never be any absolute peace, and the realities war can have on a person on all scales. OK, granted this was animated nearly 30 years ago, so the colors, resolution, and movement are most certainly not as up to some people’s standards. But I feel for its time, I do have to give it some of the credit it does deserve. I feel in terms of design in both character and mechanical, it is excellent and innovative and can transcend into our current generation’s style of animation and makes it timeless, which has been proven in some of the animated cutscenes of the PS1 and PS2 games such as Federation vs Zeon or Journey to Jaburo and thus keeps it up to date. And the battles themselves are pretty intense and plays careful strategy into it. Afterall, in war, you always got to think two steps ahead of the game. Such as when Char and Amuro first fight, Amuro easily loses energy on the beam rifle because he relied on it too much. So such tactics in terms of both offense and defense in this anime are effectively applied. For the voice acting, this is the anime that helped define the careers of Furuya Tohru, who plays Amuro, and would later play Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Seiya in Saint Seiya, and Yamucha in Dragon Ball. This also helped the career of the late Suzuoki Hirotaka, the voice of Captain Bright who is also famous as Kuno from Ranma, Kaifun in Macross, and Shiryu in Saint Seiya. And one more mention I want to make is Furukawa Yoshio as Kai which is quite a surprise because he plays bad ass characters like Shin from Fist of the North star and Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z. And the cast list goes on. In addition to a great Japanese cast, the English dub of the TV series (don’t remember the movie dub too much) is also incredible. As much as I can’t stand Richard Cox as Inuyasha and Ranma, I thought he was dead perfect as Kai. I thought his voice matched the character well and I think his performance equals to that of Furukawa’s. I also enjoyed Brad Swale as Amuro. He portrays a character that is young, intelligent, and growing. But the problem I had with the dub was Char. I don’t remember who played him, but I felt he was not as charismatic as Ikeda Shuuichi. But overall, you’ll get an incredible experience watching it in either language though it is a pity that the TV series DVD set is only in English and the trilogy DVD set is exclusively in Japanese. But the DVD trilogy does have a new set of voice actors such as Dozle’s and Ma Kube’s voices were changed. Ma Kube’s original voice actor passed away while Dozle’s voice actor, Gouri Daisuke was busy with other stuff, I guess. The music is also cheesy, but also catchy. If you think of the Ashita no Joe themes as true old school Japanese music, expect the same, but still represents a transition period to where Japanese popular music is now with beats but in a retro sense. The TV series music is of course a bit more campy, but sings about how the Gundam will rise and defeat their enemy and the ending theme is about Amuro being a man. But the trilogy soundtrack is much more mature and also maintains themes in relation to the series. I understand that Gundam isn’t really a series that’s for everybody. Afterall, I grew up on Transformers and Voltron, and the concept of robots as a potential military weapon does have a lot of appeal to me. But when I got a first hand view of the series, I was later captured by the characters and intrigued by the story and that this just wasn’t some shallow action anime. Tomino truly made a revolution of this series that initially failed in the ratings, but would now become one of Japan’s biggest anime franchises. Despite the success Gundam continues to have, it is a pity it never caught on in the long run outside of Japan, but I still manage to always find myself back to sometimes watching either the TV series and/or movie.

A bittersweet ending. What I love about this anime is its very detailed and in-depth story. Although I think the Newtype story is an unexpected plot twist, I consider it a spice in the ideological war between the Federation and Zeon. Perhaps in the future, Newtype could become a new source of conflict. For a classic anime, this anime is a must-watch.

There's not much to say about this episode, as there were many surprises during the war. All I can say is that the forces on both sides are evenly matched. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the battles between White Base and Kycilia, as well as Amuro and Char, will be.

Dramatic and tragic! That's the perfect word to describe the story in this episode. Amuro and Sayla, as well as Char and Lalah, all meet in one fierce and thrilling battle, but only one will die. I don't know if the death of this character will affect the great war between the Federation and Zeon going forward. And there's another character from White Base who turns out to be a Newtype.

Finally, Gundam can move faster and more flexibly, keeping up with Amuro's increasing reflexes. It's proven that Gundam can cut off the hand of Gelgoog piloted by Char. The battle between Lalah and Amuro's fellow Newtypes is also no less exciting. The lead-up to the massive war between the Federation and Zeon is a crucial moment.

The existence of Newtypes apparently adds to the complexity of the war but also makes the battles more exciting to follow. I think this Newtype is related to the genetic mutation that occurs in humans who have lived for a long time in space. Will there be a gap between Newtypes and ordinary humans in the future? Then, will Lalah face Amuro in the next battle?

This episode focuses more on the dialogue between Char and Sayla. The dialogue between them will be easier to understand if you've watched Gundam: The Origin before, as it showcases Char and Sayla's family dynamics. Since there aren't many battles, the pace is a bit slow. And finally, there's a discussion about Newtypes.

Wow, a very dramatic and thrilling head-to-head mobile suit battle. Which makes me wonder, why can M'quve think Amuro is a Newtype? What is a Newtype? And the surprising thing is, what happened between Amuro and Lalah? Hopefully everything will be answered in the next episodes.

Wow, what a great battle! There were several important characters whose deaths I didn't expect. But that made the story more dramatic, because there was someone left behind by those who died. On the other hand, the collaboration between Amuro and Sleggar in taking down Big Zam was a clever move by Sleggar. He was a very skilled pilot.

The great war to conquer Solomon has begun. Char will soon join his Zanzibar. Will Amuro and Char continue their unfinished battle in the next episode? Meanwhile, because this is a great war, the tension is palpable. Moreover, this time the Federation will face Dozle Zabi directly.

In this episode, Amuro's fighting abilities truly surpass those of an average human. Somehow, his intuition has increased dramatically since returning to space. He can read and accurately predict enemy movements, thus knowing what to do. Furthermore, during his encounter with Lalah, his intuition (telepathy?) is also evident. This is perhaps the most iconic character development in this anime.

This episode was really cool. There were a lot of dynamics in this episode. The dynamics were especially in the relationship between Mirai and Cameron. It seemed like Bright was a little disturbed by their relationship. Meanwhile, somehow Amuro's fighting skills have improved. It seems like his intuition for enemy presence has sharpened. So can't wait to watch the next episode, because there will be surprises.

For some reason, the battle in space was much more exciting than on Earth. The tension was more palpable, the pace was faster, and White Base's strategies felt more effective. Perhaps because White Base was no longer on the run and their resources had been replenished, they could fight at their best. All in all, this episode was awesome.

In my opinion, this is the most epic space battle so far. Even though Char didn't directly intervene, the strategy he implemented against White Base was truly reckless. Amuro also fought like a cunning warrior. And meanwhile, it seems like Bright is slowly developing special feelings for Mirai. This anime is getting more and more interesting.

Sayla seems to be on the verge of doubting her stance on the Federation versus Zeon. Other than that, there's no particularly compelling plot twist. The battle with Zeon has become a regular occurrence from episode to episode, as has the battle between Amuro and Char. On the other hand, I was quite entertained by the antics of the three White Base kids the main characters in this episode.

Finally, there was another head-to-head battle between Amuro and Char in Jaburo, but unfortunately, the duration was quite short. I also wondered if Char would also meet Sayla, considering that Sayla is now partnered with Amuro on the front lines. Meanwhile, in this episode, I was amazed by Char's strategy, who always found a way to attack the White Base. So, I can't wait to watch the next episode.

Despite the animation's shortcomings, the story in this episode was quite neat, which kept me focused on the screen to follow the dialogue and scenes that occurred. Although Gundam was briefly cornered, Amuro was able to overcome it as usual. I'm still looking forward to Amuro and Char's head-to-head again. It's sure to be an exciting fight when that time comes.

It turns out Kai also has the guts to become a military soldier. Meanwhile, I think the story in this episode is less exciting. Maybe Char's intention in launching an attack on White Base was to make it easier for his spy to enter White Base. Who knows what will happen if a spy also enters White Base. And what will Kai's attitude towards it?

In this episode, Gundam try its hand at fighting underwater. Amuro's combat skills are clearly improving. Meanwhile, White Base is once again safe from the Zeon invasion, but will Char be able to destroy White Base next? I can't wait to see Amuro and Char fight again.

There was one scene that I felt strange while watching, namely when Amuro managed to reveal who the Federation spy was for Zeon. The scene was too strange compared to the quality of animation today because the spy was caught too quickly so that the tension immediately dropped drastically. It would have been much better if the duration was longer. Apart from that, there were still other oddities which I think are normal considering the quality of old anime.